For your consideration. Put it together myself. Note that the following top ten occupations only include occupations with at least 100,000 employed in the US.

2019 Top Paying Occupations in US.png

A few points:

  1. When the mean pay is a lot higher than the median pay, there’s probably a small group within the occupation that makes a lot more money than the rest.

  2. Most chief executives make less than the average physician. Yes, there are super-star executives who make an obscene amount of money - but they are the exception, not the rule.

  3. Medicine and management: that’s where the big money is.

  4. These ten occupations account for 4.1% of the US employed (142,549,250 total in 2017) and 12.2% of total US labor compensation ($7.2 trillion in 2017).

  5. Occupations aren’t where you’re going to find the top 1%. Nope, the top 1% are mostly owners of partnerships and small (‘S’) corporations. These “pass-through” business owners earn more, on average, than major shareholders of the big ‘C’ corporations.

Something to think about….

Reference:

Cooper, M., J. McClelland, et al. (2016). "Business in the United States: Who Owns It, and How Much Tax Do They Pay?" Tax Policy and the Economy 30(1): 91-128. https://doi.org/10.1086/685594